Former Editor-in-Chief Jim Gregory has a lengthy and growing legacy of devotion to the Emerald that makes him deserving of this year’s Outstanding Alumnus award.
From helping save the financially struggling Emerald a half century ago to becoming a driving force behind last year’s “$50,000 for 50 years” fundraising campaign, to which he and his wife Angela Carmen donated generously, Gregory has always acted on his deep passion for the ODE.
“Jim has a big heart, good business sense and bleeds Emerald green,” says Bill Kunerth, Emerald president and publisher.“We’re lucky to have such a great friend, ally, and valued resource to this organization. He truly deserves this year’s Outstanding Alumni award.”
Gregory helped conceive of and arrange the “50 at 50” fund-raising drive, and he then reached out to alumni with personal appeals for donations.
In the spring of 2022, as the campaign plateaued short of its goal, Jim and Angela jolted things with a $5,000 matching gift. They gave generously to smaller Emerald funding initiatives this academic year.
Gregory recalls being surprised the Emerald needed help when Kunerth spoke with him two years ago. The decision to help was reflexive, immediate.
“It was a combination of things,” says the 1975-76 editor-in-chief. “I felt that we can’t let the Emerald die.” Then he adds with a chuckle: “Also, I worked too hard 45 years ago to let it just die. That was a big motivator.”
Gregory’s former Emerald coworkers are familiar with that hard work. Just as Civil War hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain helped save a union of states that he later helped lead, Jim’s actions saved the Emerald that he then helped preserve decades later.
Gregory applied for a job at the Emerald only after being prodded to do so by his former Lane Community College advisor, who urged him to stop assuming all the openings would be filled from existing staff.
Gregory transferred to the University of Oregon a year earlier but had never set foot in the Emerald–until he showed up for his job interview in May 1974 with the Emerald’s newly appointed next editor (full disclosure, that’s me).
At age 24, Jim seemed wise beyond his years, which was unsurprising once he mentioned that he had served three years in the U.S. Navy and had worked on the newspaper at a naval air station in Japan.
Gregory was thoughtful and introspective. Every question elicited a reasoned response. If challenged, he laid his rationale on the table and invited you to show him where he was wrong.
He didn’t mind the push back, an important trait when running a newsroom of burgeoning skeptics. Plus–and this was key–he was just plain likable. You wouldn’t mind being snowed in with him for a day.
Gregory became news editor, the Emerald’s term for city editor. After a superb year in that role (for a great laugh, ask him sometime about his first conversation over beers with our inimitable managing editor, Randy Shilts), Jim emerged from a small field of superbly qualified candidates to become editor in chief.
He had no honeymoon. Six months before Jim took over, the Emerald board of directors parted ways with its long-time general manager–and soon discovered the ODE was, on paper, bankrupt. The five-year experiment with independence might be doomed.
Drawing particularly on the expertise of board member Peter Dietz, a business professor, the Emerald discovered that it was being subsidized by outside sources the board knew nothing about. The Emerald itself was losing money and had no credit with Eugene banks.
Over the next five months, the Emerald crafted a rescue plan entirely dependent upon the good faith of the creditors, who agreed to have their debts paid back slowly over three years.
Gregory inherited that plan. He and two other board members were given responsibility for the business side of the Emerald, meaning that unlike his predecessors, Gregory wouldn’t have the luxury of being a full-time journalist. Half of his time would go instead to the business side.
“Thank god I had good editors at the Emerald,” Gregory says. “There were many times they ran the news operation because I just didn’t have the time.” He and managing editor Dennis Pfaff even sold ads on occasion.
Gregory credits ad manager Carl Bryant with playing an outsized role that year, calling Bryant “one of the most creative marketing guys I’ve ever seen.”
Together they not only put the Emerald in the black, they started paying off the debt to creditors much faster than expected. By the end of Gregory’s year, the Emerald was on course for a robust recovery, says Pfaff, the former managing editor.
“It took a team of people to achieve the Emerald’s independence,” Pfaff says. “But I think you could argue that no single person was more responsible for securing its future than Jim Gregory.
“He spent countless hours on it and he was utterly devoted to the mission. It’s no surprise to me that in the intervening years–decades, really–he’s also been one of the paper’s biggest champions.”
Kathy Carbone, long-time Emerald vice president of operations, says Gregory’s dedication has done more than steer the ODE toward better days.
“Jim helped us reconnect with alumni we had lost track of,” which not only boosted donations but brought one new member to the board of directors, Carbone says. “Jim’s passion for journalism and love for the Emerald warms my heart and gives me hope for the future.”
